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Launch Team Blog

It was Michele, Aimee and Mandy’s turn to attend HubSpot’s INBOUND conference this year in Boston. Each year we send part of our team while the rest hold down the fort at the office. While every member has been through HubSpot’s extensive training and certification, the conference offers the chance to interact with thousands of HubSpot agency partners and customers and to hear their experience with inbound marketing. Here’s what we learned:

As the digital landscape expands, more and more small to medium-sized businesses are utilizing marketing automation tools to take their sales process to the next level. Most often it seems that companies this size narrow their choices down to competitors HubSpot and Salesforce’s Pardot. Sarah Campagna of Launch Team, a HubSpot Partner, met with One Down Consulting’s Sarah Holland, an avid Salesforce and Pardot user. The two break down both tools’ offerings and share tips to consider for integrating marketing automation into your sales process for 2017.

You asked—we answered.

Last week, we presented at an event for High Tech Rochester (HTR) and their manufacturing community, and at Optifest, Optipro’s annual manufacturing open house. Many companies like these, faced with overseas competitive price pressures and increasingly complex customer demands, struggle with what an effective sales model looks like now.

Many business leaders, particularly in manufacturing and high tech companies, are skeptical of inbound marketing; they think it’s “squishy” and question its value to the business. While it does take time to see significant growth, even those just starting to implement inbound strategies can achieve some wins relatively quickly.

More and more companies are realizing that they can get better ROI from inbound marketing than traditional outbound strategies. In an age when most buyers prefer to do their own research before engaging your sales team, providing informative content is key. Content marketing is especially important in technical industries, where sales cycles are longer and engineers are often making purchase decisions. Yet many high tech companies still rely on an outbound marketing approach.

When a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it...

Marketing can generate hundreds or thousands of leads through brilliant inbound marketing content, catchy banners, enticing emails, and stellar social media strategies, but if no one ever follows up with these leads, should they really be called leads? And what purpose do they serve?

Before you throw in the online lead generation towel, first reflect on the roadblocks that might be keeping Sales from following up on these leads. Once you understand the real challenges, you can then find ways to improve Marketing and Sales alignment for better follow-up.

Questioning the value of HubSpot? Wondering when you’ll see ROI? Inbound marketing does produce results, but it takes work to get it right. HubSpot customers, especially those just getting started with an inbound approach, often leave money on the table. Here are the most common reasons:

You’re nine months into a one-year contract with HubSpot, and suddenly your CEO has noticed the quarterly charge on the corporate card. He seems to have forgotten all of the “long game” conversations you had when you sold him on the idea and now just wants metrics. Is it working? What’s the ROI? Is it worth it?

The answer to these questions might be a simple and very common one: We haven’t put enough effort into it to actually tell.

Summer is a time for road trips and lazy days. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a little, too. Looking to make the most of your car or beach time? Here are five quick reads to improve your HubSpot marketing ROI. Of course, we’ve already done the reading, so if you prefer the Cliff Notes, feel free to skim our takeaways.